Hi guys,
regarding the release of v3.0.2 I have bad news.
The software is ready and I wanted to release yesterday.
But my approach for WiFi did not work on DietPi any more 
I tried to find out what goes wrong yesterday but did not succeed.
So I have to ask you for some more patience. May take some days 
Sorry DrCWO
Hi- Dr CW (or others in this vibrant sub-community)-
Is there a simple overview of the ecosystem you’ve built (nuimo vs surface, rooextend capabilities vs othe pieces, how many Pi’s I need, what I get)? I’m excited to buy a Dial to get started, but I’m wondering if that’s the path or if I should be doing something else and so I haven’t begun. I started reading all the threads, and it’s a lot.
Or actually, maybe I’m trying to figure out what to select as a US consumer… the nuimo is discontinued by senic, so it feels like a weird dead end for me to get into, but MS doesn’t seem like they are investing in the dial, and the other unit is fairly new. So what is the advice on what a guy is to do?
Thanks,
John
Hi John,
reading all you have been busy for a while 
You find all my Roon Extensions here rooExtend - Home.
Despite discontinuation there are still Senic Nuimo devices in the 2. market. Me and @Klaus_Engel always post our current findings here: rooNuimo – best Roon controller ever - Audio Gear Talk - Roon Labs Community. In my eyes the Nuimo is still the best choice for Roon control. But it is expensive today as many sellers recognized that a lot of people ask for it now
The Microsoft Dial is cheaper and available but has no display nor such a broad set of capabilities. I personally also like the SpaceMouse as it is rock solid and has a highly reliable wireless connection using its own dongle.
Nuimo and SpaceMouse (both Bluetooth) are mutual exclusive on one Raspberry Pi. All my other Roon Extensions can be run on the same Pi without any interferences.
A nice overview of the complete ecosystem can be found on the support page of my new rooExtend-Box rooExtend-Box: Plug-And-Play for Roon Extensions - Audio Gear Talk - Roon Labs Community
Hope this helps. if you have any further question fell free to ask.
Best DrCWO
Maybe you would release that as a beta without WiFi? I guess that majority of people rely on Ethernet anyway…
Thanks so much, this is very helpful. I guess I need to compare the hardware and the capabilities of the Surface Dial vs. the 3dconnexion device. Perhaps given I can run both on a single Pi4, I should invest first in a Surface Dial (especially given current price) and then get a 3d if I feel like having a device is great - I can always use the Surface in another room. Would be terrific if there was a comparison page for the various hardware devices on your page, but I can see how you might not want to evaluate the different partners. I’m not sure how many people are like me - coming late to the party and confused by the options. In any case, thank you!
I did some digging around. I thought it was my pi zero W dropping wifi but looks like my surface dial goes to sleep (under status) and never wakes up. I had to take out the batteries from the dial to wake it. Is there a solution to this? Thanks.
This should never happen!
if the Surface Dial goes to sleep and you turn or press it immediately wakes up and reestablishes the connection.
For sure this happens if rooDial ist still active and not disconnected by the Roon core.
Best DrCWO
I am trying to figure out why it’s doing this. I wonder if the dial is defective. The battery is fresh. On the extensions page, RooDial’s status shows sleep, but never wakes up when I press or turn the dial. It was working fine for about a month.
This is the Roon Extension page. I still get “no USB stick to save settings” under RooExtend status. The only way to wake up the dial is by pulling the batteries. Then, once it goes to sleep, it won’t wake up by pressing. 
Hi. This is a known issue with many surface dials. I had one and in not finding a satisfactory/lasting resolution to the issue, abandoned this approach to Roon physical control and took the 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse approach.
More expensive device yes, but considerably better product - feel and functionality with ROO6D.
I had the SpaceMouse running okay on a Pi Zero W initially put upgraded to Pi 4 and Ethernet.
Hi, @Roonie
I can explain the “no USB stick to save settings” message.
rooExtend does not currently update itself, though I believe this is going to change in a future release. When DrCWO releases a new rooExtend image, you need to download that image and re-flash your Raspberry PI’s SD card. This process overwrites any configuration you’ve done to that specific device. To help with this, DrCWO implemented the ability to put a USB thumb drive into your Raspberry PI before doing the update. When rooExtend detects the USB thumb drive, it writes your current configuration data out to it. You can then remove the thumb drive, pull the SD card, flash the SD card with the new rooExtend image, put the USB thumb drive back into the PI, and start the PI up with the newly flashed SD card.
When rooExtend detects that it is booting for the first time, it checks to see if a thumb drive is present and, if it is, restores its configuration.
So the message you are seeing about no USB stick is perfectly normal and correct - it’s unrelated to any issues you’re seeing with your Dial.
With respect to Dial connectivity. The Dial does not maintain a constant connection to the PI. It should only wake up when you actually interact with it. How far away is your Dial from your Pi? The only time I’ve seen the behavior you’re experiencing has been when the distance is too great. In that scenario, the Dial can do exactly what you’re seeing. Can you possibly move your Pi and Dial closer together for at least long enough to debug whether or not distance is the issue?
Hi, @Johnny_Ooooops. Seems we run in the same circles 
I’m all in on rooExtend. It’s a great addition to Roon.
I’m in the US but I did manage to order a Nuimo from a German distributor that DrCWO connected me to. (I actually bought a Nuimo years ago through their Kickstarter campaign but it turned out to be pretty useless and I recycled it - wish I could have predicted that DrCWO would come along and make it useful).
I’ll be frank about my take on the devices.
I dislike the Space Mouse. In my opinion, it’s not attractive as anything other than a desktop mouse replacement. It doesn’t spin, so you’re basically just turning it a quarter turn clockwise or counterclockwise. All of the control options are clever but unless you’re going to commit them to memory and teach your household how to use it, it’s just clunky and complicated. I’d sell you mine if you really wanted it - I don’t imagine using it again.
The Nuimo is a beautifully engineered piece of equipment. It’s expensive and hard to get - especially in the US. It is rechargeable via micro USB and I find that it uses its battery fairly quickly. rooExtend has settings you can tweak to find your best balance between battery and responsiveness. The charging port is on the bottom so you can’t easily keep it cabled. I had a stand printed for mine which allows me to keep it connected to power. I keep it on my desk. I like it in that application. Because of the power issues, I don’t particularly like it in other applications.
I have four Dials. These are, for me and my usage, the sweet spot. They look modern and elegant. Because they use Bluetooth Low Energy, their batteries last for a very, very long time. Well over a year in my experience. They are easy to use - push to play/pause, rotate for volume, double push to skip a track. I have them on our bedside tables and in two other rooms.
Personally, I think your approach of buying a Dial and going from there is a good one though, in the long term, what you prefer will be a matter of taste and personal preference.
Here are a couple of photos of one of my dials and the Nuimo on a stand in case they help.
Super useful. I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a nutter, so I bought a used 3d spacemouse on ebay and a surface dial on Amazon. I wish I’d waited for your response but c’est la vie.one more piece of kit. I’ll let you know how I get on!
Did you use the built in Bluetooth of the Pi? It is not very strong. Especially not if you have a router with 2.4GHz close by. It uses the same frequency band as BT.
In the thread I recommended to use the BT Antenna from ZEXMTE. It is able to improve BT coverage a lot. Maybe this helps. Otherwise I would return the Dial and get an replacement unit.
Best DrCWO
Well done! Hope you have fun playing with this stuff. Unfortunately, the real challenge is finding a Pi Hopefully you’ve got that sorted out.
Wow, this is really helpful. Thank you for taking the time to explain this. Regarding the dial not waking up, my pi zero w is about 8foot away. I will see if I can move it closer.
This makes sense. Dial is probably not registering the click or turn so it’s not waking up. I will move the pi closer and see if it improves. Thanks for all the help.
BTW, will any USB BT dongle work?
Also, should mention that I have rpilocator - Find Raspberry Pi Computers in Stock open on all my various desktops at all times. I also live close to one of the MicroCenters. So I have managed to stockpile a couple. Of course I fried a board recently, which was incredibly stupid and annoying. But I’ll get this hooked up, even if I have to temporarily use a Wiim for one of my zones instead of the RopieeeXL it’s been running on for a while. Too many little bits & bobs
Unfortunately, moving my pi closer did not work. I have my dial about 1m away. So BT connection should be pretty stable. It looks like my dial is not really waking up from sleep. It was working great for about a month. So not sure what happened. Ordered another dial to see if it would fix the issue.
